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“Babushkais here,” he says before he turns to Mikhail.
“I’m on my way down now.” I hear them discussing their dinner plans and decide to give them both a break. “Come have dinner with me andBabushka.She’d like to see you both.” Normally they try to separate their time so that one of them is always available, and they don’t have dinner with me often unless we are out at the house. They both nod and follow me down the stairs. We emerge in the kitchen for the restaurant, and our long legs move us toward the swinging doors that enter into the dining room.
I watch as one of my brigadiers steps through the door. He nods at me as he leads a couple men past us. We all stop to watch them as they approach the cardroom door. It is hidden next to the large walk-in refrigerator. If you didn’t know the entrance was there, you’d miss it. The man I’m focused on stops and turns to look me in the eye before he enters the room. Not many men have the balls to perform that action. I stare him down and watch as he eventually gives in and turns away from me.
Coward.
After they enter, I turn and walk to the table whereBabushkais seated waiting for me. Before I sit down, I turn to Mikhail, who that brigadier is under.
“Find out why he is here,” I order him, and he nods.
The man who tried to stare me down was none other than Brett McCall. I don’t know why he’s here. Yes, I put the word out that he wasn’t supposed to be extended credit except through me and my permission. For him to be going back there with that brigadier has me wondering. The Russian Cardroom will be hosting an exclusive high-stakes card game next month. I do it every year about this time. Since everything has been taken care of with Grayson, it’s business as usual. We found the man who was after him, but we still haven’t been able to locate the hacker.
“Hello, my son,”Babushkasays as I lean over for her to kiss my cheek. “My other son.” She kisses Dmitri’s cheek. “Are you keeping him in line?”
Dmitri smiles. “That’s impossible,Babushka.” They both chuckle, and I smile at them.
“What is this?”Babushkawaves at the suit I’m wearing.
I’ve made a few other changes to my wardrobe other than the green pocket squares. I’ve started wearing more than black. I look down at the blue suit that brings out more of the blue in my eyes, or so the tailor said. I thought Sparrow would want to be with a man who was less intimidating and wore more than black. I look over to see Dmitri looking down to avoid her eyes. She has always been able to weed out when we are lying.
“I thought I would try some color for a change.” It’s not a lie, but it’s not the complete truth either.
“Hmm.” She tips her head to the side as she purses her lips. “I’m heading to Eastport to stay with Grayson and Erika after the announcement,” she says in her cultured, accented soft voice. Now that Gray and his wife, Erika, are safe, he’ll bring her back here for a dinner where all my brigadiers will be present, along with some other associates. For her protection, Gray has decided to go along with the presentation of her. She is married to him and expecting his child, so that does make her a part of the Bratva too.
“Will you be seeing Ley?” I reach for the vodka that she already ordered for me.
My sister has been avoiding me. I got to see her in July when I was in Eastport to help Gray protect his wife, but she avoided spending time with me. I have a feeling there is something that happened to her, and she doesn’t want me to know because I will scorch everything to protect her. Our father didn’t protect her much when she was young, but as soon as she came to live with us, she was under my protection. I don’t care that she went into the military and became some special forces secret killer. She’s my baby sister. I’m glad Gray is living close to her finally to protect her. She and he have always been closer than she and I. Now that I have Sparrow partially in my life, I know how important it is to treat our women.Babushkaalways said that we are supposed to do that, but it took me finding my woman to realize how much I didn’t do that for my sister. I know she is also angry with our father for being thePakhan.She doesn’t understand that in order to have heroes, you have to have villains. Our father isn’t always a villain, just when it comes to those who choose to go against him.
“I’m going to try to talk her into coming back for the party, but I doubt she will,”Babushkasays, and I hear the hurt in her voice.
I place my elbow on the table and rest my chin between my thumb and forefinger as I take her in. Just like her, I can tell when she’s lying to me. I watch her for a moment, and she starts to squirm.
“Stop staring me down, young man.” She avoids my eyes as she blusters.
“Are you going to tell me what happened to Ley?” I ask in French, keeping my voice firm and even. Dmitri’s body tightens next to me. He doesn’t speak the language, but he knows I’m keeping a secret. I keep my eyes onBabushka.
“It’s not my story to tell.” She finally confirms my fears, and I sit back to mull over the information.
“So I must confront her?” I look across the restaurant and notice the amount of people watching us. I catch a movement out of the corner of my eye and see Mikhail approaching the table. He nods at me, and I give him a slight nod in return.
“Let’s eat, boys,”Babushkasays in English. She didn’t answer my question, which leaves me to decide if I should hurt my sister more by digging into her past or let her come to me. She will eventually, she knows I’ll find out. If she doesn’t come to me, I’ll go to her and demand the truth.
We have a nice dinner ofBabushka’s famous pierogi. She gave me the recipe with her blessing when I created this restaurant in her honor. As our meal winds down and we are all relaxing back in our chairs, one of the maître d’s walks over.
“Mr. Morosov.” He waits until I look up at him. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I just received a message from the other room.” He doesn’t say cardroom or identify it in any way. In Vegas you can have smaller gambling rooms, that’s not illegal. What is illegal, however, is taking a cut of the winnings and allowing banned players to play, under special circumstances of course. “There is an issue.”
I take a deep breath. It never ends. I’m always working, but it’s going to have to change when I bring Sparrow home. Dmitri gets up this time and heads that way.
“Babushka, I’m sorry to end our evening early. It was nice to see you.” I lean over and kiss her on each cheek when I stand from my chair. Her hand reaches out and stops me.
“Andrei, I’d like to play a hand or two.” I help her up.
“You’ll stay with Mikhail,” I order her, and she doesn’t argue with me.
We move through the restaurant toward the kitchen and then to the entrance next to the fridge. As soon as the door opens, I take in the opulence of the large gambling room. There are about a dozen poker tables, several slot machines, and a couple of blackjack tables set up. The room is decorated in red and gold. The large round gold light fixtures cast the room in a glow of warm light. I hear the raised voices and make my way over to the group that has surrounded them. I don’t think twice about leaving Mikhail withBabushka, he’ll protect her with his life.
“I want in on the game. I have the money. I should be allowed to play just like anyone else,” a loud voice declares, and I know who it is before the crowd parts.
